Madagascar
Madagascar heading into open conflict

afrol News, 23 February - Large crowds are forming to protect opposition leader Marc Ravalomanana from possible arrest after President Didier Ratsiraka yesterday evening imposed a state of emergency. Ratsiraka reacted to Ravalomanana's "seizure of power". 

Presidential candidate Marc Ravalomanana yesterday "seized power" at a ceremony in the national stadium Mahamasina in the capital Antananarivo. He claims he won the first round of 16 December's presidential elections outright and is backed in his view by independent election observers and hundreds of thousands of Antananarivo dwellers, which have been protesting daily for almost two months. 

President Ratsiraka however answered Ravalomanana's yesterday evening by announcing a state of emergency. The situation on the island immediately got tense as Ravalomanana's followers suspected he might get arrested. Today, many protestors converged on the capital defying the state of emergency. Supporters are reported protecting Ravalomanana's home with barricades.

The state of emergency was announced by Prime Minister Tantely Andrianarivo and is for a period of three months. It includes a ban on demonstrations and the government may take total control over the media, the post and telephone service. 

Ravalomanana's party, Tiako i Madagasikara, today informed that "too zealous and uncontrolled police forces" in Mahajanga had attacked locals in support of Ravalomanana. Mahajanga is Madagascar's second port and located on the west coast, an area mainly in support of President Ratsiraka. 

President Ratsiraka himself today is reported to have left the capital for his stronghold in the east of the island, according to the BBC's Alastair Leithead, reporting from Madagascar. 

International support for Ratsiraka
While the international community had offered its help to negotiate between the two presidential candidates and favoured a second poll round, Ravalomanana's move to proclaim himself president cost him the last of international sympathy he might have had.

A high Organisation of African Unity (OAU) official had mediated between the two men, but Ravalomanana on Wednesday declared the talks had been a "complete fiasco". OAU Secretary General Amara Essy thus today expressed dismay at Ravalomanana's decision to proclaim himself as president. This move, Essy said, was against all expectations and called into question the process for the search of a peaceful solution to the crisis through dialogue.

The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, yesterday voiced his "deep concern" at Ravalomanana's move. Annan rejected any attempts to "take power outside of constitutional procedures." He further called on the parties to "respect the agreement concluded under the auspices of the OAU" and "find a negotiated solution to the crisis." The UN clearly favours a second round of balloting. 

Essay today said he would confer with the UN and other organisations and countries to search for an "appropriate international reaction" to Ravalomanana's move. 

The French government already has stated it shared "OAU concerns about justice prevailing in Madagascar." Also the US government has criticised Ravalomanana's "unilateral move" and urged him to reconsider his actions.

Sources: Tiako-i-Madagasikara, OAU, press reports and afrol archives 

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